I'm a big aficionado of the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. My favorite is The Goldoliers, which centers on two young gondoliers of Venice, brothers Marco and Giuseppe Palmieri.

The operetta begins with a quandary. Marco and Giuseppe are so handsome that, so long as they remain unmarried, every single young lady lives in hope of them and will pay no attention to any other young man! The bachelors (blue) and bachelorettes (red) banter.

contradicente – not an English term. But the Latin phrase nemine contradicente "(with) no one speaking against" is used in English with the same meaning – typically to refer to a motion that is passed without opposition.

To choose brides, the brothers play a game of blind-man's-buff – and cheat to get the girls they want. (The banter in the game has no suitable word-a-day, but it's so amusing that I've posted it for you below.)

No one in these blissful twosomes is overly blessed with brains. Much later, as they sing a song together, each one pulls aside, one after the other, to tell the audience of his/her spouse's shortcomings. In other words, each sees the stupidity in his/her spouse, but not in his/her self.

First to speak are the ladies, Tessa beginning (red) and Gianetta following (red italic indented).

I, no doubt, Giuseppe wedded--That's, of course, a slice of luckHe is rather dunder-headed.Still distinctly, he's a duck.

To Gianetta I was mated;I can prove it in a trice:Though her charms are overrated,Still I own she's rather nice.

. . .I to Tessa, willy-nilly,. . .All at once a victim fell.. . .She is what is called a silly,. . .Still she answers pretty well.

trice – a very short period of time; an instantown (more-obscure meaning) – to admit or acknowledge that something is the case (own up to – to admit to having done something wrong or embarrassing) willy-nilly – 1. whether you "like it or not"; without a choice 2. without direction/planning; haphazardly

I wonder why, as a child, I (and all the other kids) always thought it was, "Blind Man's Bluff," not that I think we really knew what we meant by saying that. Does anyone know? Has anyone else had that experience? Actually, it kinda makes sense to me. He's only bluffing that he doesn't know who's taunting him at any given moment... Hmmmmm. It's a ruse, and the joke's on those doing the taunting. I kind of like that possibility. Thoughts? Also, as kids, we didn't know what a buff was--not in Manhattan, anyway!

timoneer – a helmsman; a steersman; the man who steers a boat or ship[Latin temon a pole]stripling – a young man; an adolescent youth

Off to the altar go the happy couples. Enter Don Alhambra del Bolero, the Grand Inquisitor of Spain, with a dark secret. The two grooms think they are brothers, but in fact one of them is "no less a personage than the son and heir of His Majesty the immeasurably wealthy King of Barataria!" Years ago, "that misguided monarch abandoned the creed of his forefathers, and became a Wesleyan Methodist of the most bigoted and persecuting type. The Grand Inquisitor, determined that the innovation should not be perpetuated in Barataria, caused [the infant prince] to be stolen and conveyed to Venice."

The time has come for the prince, now grown, to return to Barataria and claim the throne. Unfortunately, Grand Inquisitor tells us, no one knows which "brother" is which!

I stole the Prince, and I brought him here,And left him gaily prattlingWith a highly respectable gondolier,Who promised the Royal babe to rear,And teach him the trade of a timoneerWith his own beloved bratling.Both of the babes were strong and stout,And, considering all things, clever.Of that there is no manner of doubt--No probable, possible shadow of doubt--No possible doubt whatever.

But owing, I'm much disposed to fear,To his terrible taste for tippling,That highly respectable gondolierCould never declare with a mind sincereWhich of the two was his offspring dear,And which the Royal stripling!Which was which he could never make outDespite his best endeavour.Of that there is no manner of doubt--No probable, possible shadow of doubt--No possible doubt whatever.

contradicente – not an English term. But the Latin phrase nemine contradicente "(with) no one speaking against" is used in English with the same meaning – typically to refer to a motion that is passed without opposition.

Before this category expires entirely I'll add my tuppence --

Like many greats, G&S weren't above re-using their own work where appropriate.In Iolanthe the same two phrases are used again:

LORD MOUNTARARAT. This gentleman is seen,With a maid of seventeen,A-taking of his dolce far niente;And wonders he'd achieve,For he asks us to believeShe's his mother-and he's nearly five-and-twenty!

LORD CHANCELLOR (sternly). Recollect yourself, I pray,And be careful what you say-As the ancient Romans said, festina lente.For I really do not seeHow so young a girl could beThe mother of a man of five-and-twenty.

and later

LORD TOLLOLLER. I have often had a useFor a thorough-bred excuseOf a sudden (which is English for "repente"),But of all I ever heardThis is much the most absurd,For she's seventeen, and he is five-and-twenty!

ALL. Though she is seventeen, and he is four- or five-and-twenty!Oh, fie! our Strephon is a rogue!

LORD MOUNTARARAT. Now, listen, pray to me,For this paradox will beCarried, nobody at all contradicente.Her age, upon the dateOf his birth, was minus eight,If she's seventeen, and he is five-and-twenty!

PEERS and FAIRIES. If she is seventeen, and he is only five-and-twenty.

ALL. To say she is his mother is an utter bit of folly! Oh, fie! our Strephon is a rogue!Perhaps his brain is addled, and it's very melancholy! Taradiddle, taradiddle, tol lol lay!I wouldn't say a word that could be reckoned as injurious,But to find a mother younger than her son is very curious,And that's a kind of mother that is usually spurious. Taradiddle, taradiddle, tol lol lay!